By David Harry

Staff Writer

John Bishop and his family came from Ohio by way of Bath to race at Maine Indoor Karting on Monday afternoon.

Jack Nuland, 20, and Will Bunker, 19, came from Connecticut by way of Stratham, N.H., to help the family get carts started and enjoy a snack between races.

The Bishops said they were enjoying a vacation – Nuland and Bunker said they were happy to have the jobs in a very competitive environment.

Roommates who also attended prep school together in Connecticut, Nuland and Bunker said they will also work at a dairy farm closer to their home in New Hampshire and cobble together other odd jobs.

The pair are part of the influx of young workers coming to local restaurants, campgrounds, amusement areas and landscaping companies in a case of mutual need tempered by a still-weak economy.

It is too early to tell if the summer job market is bouncing back throughout the state, said Glenn Mills of the Maine Department of Labor, but past statistics in Cumberland County show 7,000 to 10,000 full- or part-time jobs may open up as tourists come and open their wallets.

Demand for those jobs is high, as established workers now compete with younger ones who are just entering the job market or looking for work between semesters.

Nuland and Bunker had an advantage to get three-day a week part-time jobs at the indoor race track on Washington Avenue. Nuland is the nephew of owners Rick and Lori Snow.

Lori Snow said four to six new employees are hired for tourist season. Two are commonly high school students – unlike college students, they are available after Labor Day when business can still be healthy.

Snow said perhaps 15 people came looking for jobs, not an unusual amount. Business was down last year, she said. Rainy weather may help draw people to the track – until a long stretch of poor weather means families cancel reservations for Maine vacations.

Seasonal employees typically help schedule and monitor races, work as cashiers or at the café at the track, Snow said.

At the Nestling Duck Gift Shop on Pine Point Road, manager Ruth Brown was rushing to make fudge for the influx of tourists she expects this weekend. Three of five new employees were stocking shelves.

“It was a crazy, crazy year,” she said about job seekers. “We had people with great resumes, it’s sad to say they were overqualified.”

Turnover was high this year. The employees who started when in high school and worked through their college years have now moved on, Brown said.

“These will be our new kids to carry through until college,” she said about choosing local workers who have reliable ways of getting to work.

At least three of the new hires are Scarborough High School students who are working their first jobs.

Brianna Silva and Marisa O’Toole said they applied to several area businesses including Bayley’s Campground, seafood restaurant Ken’s Place and Beal’s, the ice cream store in Oak Hill Plaza. They were not alone in applying, they said.

“I just wanted to have a job for the summer,” O’Toole said.

Dave Wilcox, owner of Ken’s Place on Pine Point Road, said he got so many applicants for jobs he had to buy two new pads of application forms. Where 30 to 40 people may apply in a year, Wilcox said this year he got 200 applications and delegated interviews to his managers.

In his case, the news has been good because he has also been able to add five or six part-time positions while welcoming back the students who return each summer to prepare and serve seafood.

Wilcox said he generally looks for honor roll students. He wants employees who are smart and sharp.

“I can read people. I know in 30 seconds if I want to hire someone,” he said. “I would have hired 50 percent of the applicants I got this year.”

Erika Saito, who recently completed her freshman year as a biology major at Gordon College in Massachusetts, said she has been working at the restaurant for three years.

“A lot of my friends are searching, I feel lucky to have a job waiting for me,” Saito said.

Having workers return annually is mutually beneficial, said Pam Smith, the operations manager for Maine Turf, a Scarborough-based landscaping company serving mostly commercial accounts in a 10-mile radius of the Pleasant Hill Road location.

Each year, Maine Turf needs mowers and prefers to rely on workers returning from school, Smith said.

“It’s easier to have someone who knows the ins and outs of the properties,” Smith said.

 “You have to start looking early – the good jobs are gone by January or February,” Bunker said.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219